Madonna and Missy Elliott get into the groove in a fresh and fun :60 for Gap Cord Jeans created by Laird+Partners, New York, and directed by Paul Hunter of bicoastal HSI Productions. Titled "Into the Hollywood Groove," the spot features an updated version of the classic Madonna tune "Into the Groove," with cleverly interwoven lyrics from "Hollywood," Madonna’s latest single, and a new rap by Missy.
Striving for a behind-the-scenes feel, the spot finds Madonna and Missy meeting up on a Hollywood back lot and strutting their stuff on a fake New York City-style street as they make their way to a rehearsal stage.
Both stars make great entrances. As "Into the Hollywood Groove" opens, Madonna—clad in a white tank top and blue Gap cropped cords—is perched on a director’s chair looking like a million bucks. It helps that she is dripping in diamond jewelry. Seconds later, Missy—wearing a Gap men’s T-shirt with her face airbrushed on it, blue Gap boot cut cords and a baseball cap—bursts through a door and launches into a rapid-fire rap. Sporting gold and diamonds, Missy is bling-bling like her onscreen cohort.
Talking up Gap cords, Missy raps, "We walk by, people ask…"
"Where you get them jeans?" comes the question from three admirers standing on a stoop.
Traipsing down the street like two old girlfriends out for a walk in the neighborhood, Madonna and Missy stop to do the bump, and we see that each woman has an "M" embroidered on a back pocket of her Gap cords.
Ultimately, the pair make their way to a rehearsal studio, where each—flanked by backup dancers—shows the other her dance moves before they join together to dance.
After momentarily cutting to a white card that reads, "Cord Gap Jeans," the spot concludes with Missy doing a split, and Madonna following suit, declaring, "I can do that!"
MUSIC FIRST
When it came to creating the spot, Trey Laird, president/executive creative director of Laird+ Partners, said he came up with the idea of using the song "Into the Groove" before he thought about pairing Madonna and Missy. "It’s not a literal thing, but I was thinking about cords, and cords have grooves in them, and I love the word groove, and one thing led to another," explained Laird, who also served as art director and copywriter on the job. Leigh Donaldson was the producer at Gap, San Francisco.
Laird could have simply bought the rights to the song, then hired someone else to perform it, but he got ambitious. "I thought, instead of asking someone else to do it, what if I asked Madonna to do it?" he related. "And then I thought, who would be a great person to turn it on its ear—to make it different? It wouldn’t have been that interesting just to have Madonna re-do her own song."
Laird decided Madonna and Missy were his dream team. "It’s not an obvious pairing. Madonna is obviously the icon in pop music, and Missy is pretty much the icon in hip-hop music, and Gap is the iconic American retailer," Laird mused. "When you put it all together, it becomes very new and different."
After formulating a loose Hollywood back lot premise, Laird chose Hunter (who has done Gap commercials before, but never with Laird) to direct. "I wanted to work with somebody that was great with personalities, and had a great sense of music," Laird said. "I didn’t just want somebody who was a music video director, but somebody who could also craft a great spot."
Hunter had everything Laird was looking for: He’s a sought-after music video director whose credits include clips for Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Eminem and Jennifer Lopez, as well as spots for clients such as Nike, Sprite and Tommy Jeans.
Meanwhile, Hunter had met Madonna already. A couple of years ago, they discussed a potential movie project, according to Hunter. "One of the things that I said to her was I wanted to do a music video with her," Hunter recalled. "But I wanted to have her do some hip-hop dancing, so when the Gap spot came around and Missy was involved, it kind of came full circle."
INTRODUCING M & M
Prior to the shoot, Hunter arranged for Madonna and Missy to meet—at Madonna’s Beverly Hills house—so they would build a bond and familiarity with each other that he hoped to capture in the commercial, he explained.
The pair also needed to discuss the music track, which was ultimately produced by Missy, who, incidentally, began her career as a record producer.
A week after the track was finished, the cast and crew—which included DP Harris Savides—reported to the Paramount Studios back lot in Hollywood where "Into the Hollywood Groove" was shot over the course of four days. Hunter made use of an outdoor street set and Stage 26. "The whole idea [behind the spot] was that they were rehearsing for a show, and we were casually filming how it is behind the scenes," Hunter said.
Given that premise, Hunter didn’t want the spot to be too slick. "I didn’t want it to feel too produced or over-lit. I wanted it to feel like you were right there sitting in the rehearsal studio," Hunter said. "Harris Savides really did a fantastic job in lighting it to give it the right feel."
As for the camera work, Hunter said, "We didn’t want to get too complicated. We wanted the camera to be very still, with medium to wide frames, and not too low or high angles."
In terms of the performances, Hunter sought to capture each star’s individual personality and style. Madonna and Missy were allowed to choose their own outfits—as long as they wore a pair of Gap cord jeans. By coincidence, both settled on blue pants.
As previously noted, Madonna chose to accessorize her outfit with diamonds. Reports claim that the star wore a staggering $5 million worth of jewels. When asked if that was true, Hunter responded, "How about $20 million worth?" Jeweler Neil Lane provided the $20 million worth of diamonds, and five armed guards on the set kept an eye on the jewels, Hunter added.
When the shoot wrapped, Hunter and Laird cut the footage with Adam Pertofsky of Rock Paper Scissors, Los Angeles. Both Hunter and Laird have worked extensively with the editor in the past, and reported that the editing process went smoothly. In fact, the spot was cut in one day.
Laird is proud of the final result and feels like the project benefited everyone involved. "There are very few things that become win-win situations for everybody," Laird commented, "but this was."
